navahgar

I’m not suggesting that she’s bloodthirsty. But I think Jasnah is more practical and logical, and more inclined dispassionately to conclude that leaving any Singers alive is a risk, because even if today they say they reject becoming Fused, tomorrow they may change their minds, and/or their offspring may have different opinions. So the best course is to eradicate all the Singers, and remove the problem that way. At least, that’s how I see Jasnah analyzing the situation. That’s a good point. Maybe Rlain becomes the Windrunner for the Singers. And Kaladin simply fights alongside them.

Perhaps oral tradition is an aspect of the preservation. But my theory is that the Eila Stele at least is sourced from a physical stone. And that there are other physical stones.

Spoilers through Oathbringer in Stormlight Archive, and a minor bit through Hero of Ages in Mistborn. The Eila Stele is the name of the source of the text in the Dawnchant that gets translated toward the end of Oathbringer, and reveals to our heroes that the humans were the original voidbringers. My comment/theory has to do with the name: Eila Stele. Eila is a city in Iri. Stele is a word for a stone slab from ancient times that has text or pictures carved into it. So the obvious conclusion is that the Eila Stele is a physical stone slab that was discovered/rediscovered in Eila. It’s not clear from the text whether the original Eila Stele is still physically intact, or has eroded / been destroyed after being recorded. My theory is that it is still intact, and that the Dawnsingers used some unknown magic/technology to ‘carve’ the Eila Stele, and other Stele in city locations around Roshar. Perhaps something akin to the surges of Tension, Cohesion, or even Division. It would take something supernatural to have allowed the Eila Stele to remain intact from shortly after the first desolation to whenever in psuedo-modern times it was discovered in Eila and studied by modern humans. My other theory is that the Eila and other Stele will be discovered by Venli in book 4, in a fashion akin to the Lord Ruler’s messages in Hero of Ages. This will help Venli advance along her journey as a Willshaper, giving her deeper insight into the Dawnsingers’ initial struggles against humans, and showing her that the original fight was against Odium. This will parallel her growth and memories of Eshonai, and will be the vehicle for her narrative arc in Book 4. Culminating in her joining with Rlain to discover and help the free Singers. Bonus side theory: Kaladin will, via Rlain, join with and lead these free Singers. Jasnah’s ruthlessness will try to push Dalinar’s new Knights Radiant to be more aggressive and clear about Humans v. Singers. But Kaladin will try to push the Knights Radiant to be about Honor (Human + Singers) v. Odium (Humans + Singers). I don’t have an idea about how that will resolve. I can see divisions in the Knights Radiant, with some joining Jasnah’s faction, and others joining Kaladin’s. I wonder how this will affect and be affected by Dalinar’s drive for Unity.

My current working [cosmere] theory is that over the course of the next few decades, as Brandon’s vision turns into brilliant fictional reality, the theme of Dalinar uniting things will be repeatedly reinvented and expanded until he ultimately unites all 16 shards into a new Adonalsium. For now, I think it’s correct to think that it just means unite the humans/parsh.

I assumed Hoid was picking up that spren to save it from the voidspren/Odium, and wasn’t planning on maintaining the bond. But if that isn’t the case, and he really does want to bond the spren, then I think that it’s less the Lightweaving surge and more the Transformation surge that he’s after. Soulcasting could be a very valuable skill for an Allomancer.

Any love for the author being one of the Heralds? Hanging between worlds could fit there. And Oathbringer could be relevant to a Herald. On a potentially unrelated note, I think there's some misdirection in the line jofwu quoted: Specifically, "some who saw further than I did thought I had fallen". 'Fallen' does not equal 'dead'. A person who falls from grace could also have 'fallen'. That could allude to a Herald. And also the part about experiencing something worse than death.

Nohadon's real name is a minor example. Translating an entire lost language that dates from the time when the order you're trying to reestablish was active is much more important. Also, a large part of the focus for Dalinar on his visions has been about learning from them. Regaining lost knowledge is a classic fantasy book trope/dynamic. I'm not criticizing that. I'm just saying that Dalinar has a mechanism he can use to do that seemingly very effectively. It may not be within his character makeup to think of that or do it, but surely it is within Navani, Jasnah, and/or Shallan's. If they don't take advantage of that, I'd like to see at least some reason given.

Yeah, but what he clearly should do for science is to preplan a series of letters, words, and sentences, and then say them outloud in the vision. Navani can then record those and use them to fully translate the Dawnchant. Surely this will have a major impact on the understanding of older texts. He should also ask every person he interacts with for their name, the name of the location, and everything they know about the Radiants/Heralds. Surely this would glean some solid information for them. For example, we still don't know Nohadon/Bajerden's real name. Ask him. To not do this basic scientific research seems very negligent to me. Even if Dalinar doesn't think of it, why hasn't Navani (the scholar) suggested it? If Jasnah comes back and learns about what Dalinar can do, and doesn't suggest it, then the only explanation could be that the plot dictated that characters act stupidly.

What about Hoid? Couldn't Gavilar have learned this information from Hoid? We know that Hoid has been Elhokar's Wit, but do we know how long he's been around the family? Also, even if he's only now the Wit, that doesn't mean he couldn't have earlier been a different figure that Gavilar knew. I especially like the idea of Hoid being the source of Gavilar's information, because doesn't Hoid at one point tell Dalinar that he's willing to watch Roshar burn to achieve his targets? Helping Gavilar bring back the Desolations certainly fits in with that nicely. Also, the letters that Hoid exchanges with Frost appear to suggest that Frost is annoyed with Hoid for his interfering on Roshar. Has anything we've seen so far from Hoid really risen to that great a level of interference? Maybe his giving Gavilar in depth knowledge of the past and helping Gavilar come to the conclusion that the Desolations need to return is the big interference.

Yeah. That was a really interesting scene. I had a theory about that, that the Taln we see in that scene is a kandra (with a spike enabling feruchemy/allomancy for speed), and not actually Taln. The real Taln having been switched out between the end of WoK and that part in WoR. This could explain the whole 'the person calling himself Taln' narrative. This theory seems pretty bad though, since others pointed out (on reddit) that it would be too big a crossover of Cosmere into Stormlight, and I think there was a WoB that explained his logic behind the Taln confusion was a holdover from a previous draft. Assuming my theory is wrong. Those quick reflexes could derive from some of those other inherent powers that Heralds have.

Thanks for the clarification. According to that WoB, the Heralds without their Blades are incapable of the powers we're familiar with, but that doesn't mean they're incapable of absorbing Investiture from stormlight to feed their Cognitive Shadow needs. So I'm not sure that WoB closes the issue. I think it's feasible that being on Roshar inherently feeds the Investiture needs of the Heralds without any them needing to be smart enough to figure it out. Vasher may have had to be smart to hack into it, but the Heralds were created in this system, so I don't see any reason for them to need to have studied the rules of the Cosmere to make it work. Having said that, I see your point and I guess we'll have to wait and see. On a slightly tangential note, that WoB looks a bit sneaky/complicated to me. The question was can Heralds Surgebind. The answer was that they are incapable of the powers we're familiar with. So is that a no then? Sounds to me like he purposely avoided directly answering the question.

Sorry if this is a stupid question. Also, this is one of my first posts so I'm not clear on the mechanics of quoting, hiding spoilers, etc. I've tried to write vaguely enough not to reveal spoilers. Sorry if it's confusing. Calderis, how do we know that that other type of Cognitive Shadow we've seen doesn't have the requirement? Is that confirmed anywhere? Roshar is a great source of Investiture, as we know specifically in this context from a certain worldhopper's presence there. Maybe all Cognitive Shadows in physical bodies do need a constant supply of investiture.